To Go Further
by JustAnotherAuthor-Not
Summary: "Yoshika?" A voice she knew so well asked tenderly, the person bent down to be at her level and she looked up to see Kou's soft brown eye's looking at her carefully "are you okay?" He wiped a tear from her cheek but quickly removed his hand when he saw how she recoiled from the contact.


"You know," Touma rolled his head back, breaking a deep kiss "we've technically gone further." His face turned red at his bold declaration and he carefully watched his girlfriend for her similar reaction.

"H-how do you mean?" Yoshika stuttered, pushing back from his embrace.

"When we met." He stated simply, feeling his face turn even redder.

She pushed him back breaking contact, he looked like he wanted to grab her back, but respected her space.

"Why would your bring that up again!" she turned away embarrassed, unable to look at him, Kou's face running through her head as she recalled him telling her that even someone she trusted could assault her. Why did her thoughts always go back to him?

"I just meant-" he reached out for her again, but stopped when he saw her flinch back. "Well, we've been dating for a while and I've been wanting more than soft kisses or the rare passionate one, I want you more Yoshika." He held her arm now, ignoring the way she stiffened.

"You said we could wait for as long as I wanted for anything."

"And of course that's still true, but-" he leaned in closer to her. Futaba felt her heart rate pick up and not in a good way. Touma kissed her lightly, she didn't respond, he rested his forehead against hers frustrated. "But I was hoping to move it forward." The blush on his face was surely going to become permanent if he continued with this, but there was no going back now.

She didn't move and he took it as permission to keep going. He kissed her, more forcefully then their usual soft ones, and even harsher then the few passionate kisses they had shared.

Yoshika suddenly pushed him off "I have to go." She ran out as fast as she could, not giving him a chance to speak or stop her.

As soon as she felt like there was enough distance between them that if he had tried to follow her he wouldn't be able to she stopped and leaned against a nearby shadowed wall off the side of the street. She slowly collapsed to the floor, hugging her knees trying to calm her racing heart and stop the silent tears from streaming down her face.

Once again she thought of Kou, how he had warned her about this. She knew Kikuchi hadn't exactly assaulted her but she didn't like the way he had been pushing her to do something she explicitly said no to, or how he kissed her so forcefully obviously against her will.

When Kou had been trying to prove his point he didn't actually kiss her because he knew (or assumed at the time) that she hadn't wanted him to. Kikuchi had kissed her when she clearly didn't want him to, and she assumed would have in a multitude of situations.

She felt the tears she had been trying to hold back begin to fall as these thought swirled around in her head, racking her body with sobs.

"Yoshika?" A voice she knew so well asked tenderly, the person bent down to be at her level and she looked up to see Kou's soft brown eye's looking at her carefully "are you okay?" He wiped a tear from her cheek but quickly removed his hand when he saw how she recoiled from the contact.

"W-what are y-you doing here?" She asked turning away and wiping her tears, trying to calm herself down.

"I should be asking you that." He said delicately, longing to be able to hold her and comfort her but realizing she didn't want to be touched.

She pouted at his lack of a response and he was happy to see her mood lift, if only slightly. "I was getting groceries." He gestured to the bag he had dropped next to them when he saw her "speaking of I have to get home for dinner, come on." He stood and put out a hand for her to take to lift her up as well.

Futaba was happy to see he was eating again, and judging by the food she could see poking out of his back, with his brother no less. She took his hand but dropped it as soon as she was on her feet. He ignored the small pang of hurt that went through him at the immediate release, but he ignored it, especially because he didn't think the reluctance to have contact was because it was him this time, he still couldn't help a quick look of disappointment cross his features. The disappointed look confused her, he had rejected her after all, so she chose to ignore it.

"I'll walk you home." Kou stated, his voice telling her there was no room for argument, though truthfully she had, had no intention of saying no. He made her feel safe and right now that's what she needed most.

They walked in silence, Futaba sniffled a little, still having to wipe away the occasional tear that slipped out of her mostly drying eyes. Kou desperately wanted to ask her what was wrong but knew it wasn't his place. She had a boyfriend after all... _wait_ -

"Yoshika, was it Kikuchi?" He asked looking straight ahead "Who made you cry." He elaborated after a stretched silence.

"I don't want to talk about it Kou-chan" she sighed. In truth she did want to, she wanted him to comfort her, but she couldn't ask that of him, Kikuchi was still her boyfriend and Kou had rejected her, she had to stop thinking of him like that.

Kou's heart ached, he hated that she called him Kou-chan now, he hated that she couldn't talk to him honestly anymore, all because of one person "Narumi isn't in my life anymore." He blurted out, immediately wishing he could take it back.

"Oh..." What was he saying? Futaba felt her heart beat faster, in a much more pleasant way then it had with Kikuchi earlier. Why would he tell her that?

"I'm sorry." They said in unison, each smiling softly reminded of how often that used to happen to them.

"You first." Kou said, looking at her patiently.

"I'm sorry that you lost your girlfr-" she paused, still unable to say that Kou had, had a girlfriend and rejected her. "friend." She finished softly.

"Thank you, but she was never such a good friend."

Futaba wanted to question him further on that statement, but restrained herself. She was dating Kikuchi now either way, so what if Narumi had never actually been Kou's girlfriend and she just misunderstood, that didn't change the fact that he had rejected her confession.

"And why did you apologize?" She pushed.

Kou scratched the back of his neck, she watched the motion, staring at the nape of his neck as she had so often done before. There was just something so alluring about it, it was the place she could smell his captivating scent the strongest, and it was just overall cute. She turned away and chided herself 'I have Kikuchi' she thought looking at the ground, but after what happened between them tonight every time she thought of him she felt fear building.

"It's nothing." He said simply.

She pouted "Come onnnn." She whined.

He smiled at her, happy that she was getting more comfortable around him again. "I was just apologizing for blurting it out" he said 'and for rejecting you, and for basically losing you, and not being able to comfort you." He thought, looking at her closely hoping he could somehow convey all those thoughts to her.

Sooner then he liked they reached her house.

"Thank you for walking me home." She smiled at him, he had a way of always finding her when she needed him most and though she could never admit it Kou Mabuchi definitely had a way of constantly making her feel better and comforted.

"Of course Yoshika." He said it so honestly and filled with something she couldn't- or wouldn't allow herself to admit was there, she had to look away to hide a blush rising to her cheeks.

"See you tomorrow!" He loved how flustered she sounded. She turned to go.

"Wait Yoshika" he reached out a hand to grab hers "I want to know why you were crying. Even if I can't be by your side right now, I still want to be, I want to try." He had just pretty much admitted he loved her fully aware she had a boyfriend. A light blush settled across his features and only worsened when he saw the shocked, bright red face of the only girl he ever loved. There was a moment of silence.

She pulled her hand out of his grasp "It's really nothing Kou." She said softly and though he was happy to hear her call him by his usual name, it just about broke his heart how upset she sounded.

"I'm always here for you Yoshika." He stated earnestly before he watched her turn and go inside.

He sighed as he began the short trek to his house. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't been hoping she'd been crying over breaking up with Kikuchi. He felt a little bad for wanting something he knew could hurt her but couldn't help the selfishness. He had faith in their long lasting love for each other.

Futaba apologized to her mom for coming home late, and said she wasn't feeling well so she could bring her dinner to her room. She needed to think.

She knew she still had feelings for Kou, that was old news, but he had been with Narumi which was no longer a factor and it seemed had been a different situation then what she had thought. But she had Kikuchi he made her happy - well he had made her happy. Every time she thought of him now, she began to get scared. It wasn't like it was the first time he had tried to push her to do something she wasn't ready for. It wasn't all about him insisting they go further, if this was going to be a recurring thing... she groaned.

"I'm going to break up with Kikuchi." she whispered to herself, making up her mind, and with that thought she felt a sort of weight lift off her shoulders and fell into a peaceful sleep ready for the coming days.

 **A/N: My first Ao Haru Ride/Blue spring ride story, hope you liked it! It bothered me immensely that Kikuchi was sooo nice and I needed him to do something wrong to make me okay with that breakup. So this was born, kind of partially inspired by how he kind of forced her to agree to be his girlfriend and my random thoughts. Please review and tell me what you think!**


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